5th Mar 2007 07:05
IP Group PLC05 March 2007 For immediate release 05 March 2007 ('IP Group' or 'the Group' or 'the Company') BOARD & SENIOR MANAGEMENT CHANGES IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Company" or "the Group"), theintellectual property commercialisation company, is delighted to announce thatit has appointed Mike Townend to the Board as Director of Capital Markets withimmediate effect. Mike, aged 44, has 17 years experience in all aspects of equity capital marketsand was formerly at Lehman Brothers where he was Managing Director, EuropeanEquities and Head of Equity Sales to Hedge Funds. In this role, where he wasjointly responsible for the equity sales operation at Lehman Brothers, Mikefocussed particularly on hedge funds and alternative asset managers and wasresponsible for building and maintaining multi strategy and asset classrelationships with institutional investors and prominent alternative assetmanagers. Prior to this, Mike was an Executive Director at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette("DLJ") where he was recruited to build up business with hedge funds as a keyelement of DLJ'S European start up strategy. He has a further eight years equitysales experience at Banque Paribas and BG Bank where he was Head of EquitySales. In addition, Mike has extensive experience of raising capital, having recentlycompleted a number of private company fundings including one in the intellectualproperty space, Imprimatur Capital. Separately, IP Group also announces today that Dr Alison Fielding, currentlyDirector of Technology Transfer, will be assuming an increased role within thebusiness as Chief Technology Officer. In this role, Alison will be responsiblefor all pre-spin-out formation activities across the Group and will also overseeoperations and share and implement best practice. Dr Bruce Campbell is today stepping down from the Board of Directors. Brucehas served as Chief Scientific Officer since joining the Board in 2004 andhas contributed enormously to the development of the Group to date. Bruce willremain involved with the business, serving on the boards of a number of IP Groupportfolio companies. In addition, IP Group is also pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Rob Ruleto the position of Managing Director of Techtran. IP Group bought Techtran, acompany set up to commercialise university intellectual property under a longterm contract with the University of Leeds, in 2005. Rob, who will beresponsible for the day to day running of Leeds-based Techtran, joins IP Groupfrom Liverpool Ventures Ltd, an investor in early-stage technology, where he wasBusiness Director. Prior to that, Rob was Group Commercial Director of Micap plc where he wasresponsible for the commercialisation of the technology licensing business withglobal customers in healthcare/pharmaceutical, agrochemical, cosmetics, biocidesand food industries. Rob also has extensive international blue-chip experiencewith ICI and DuPont including business management, sales, licensing, marketing,product development and R&D. Most recently, he was Commercial Manager, DuPontPolyester Europe where he was responsible for £130 million turnover acrossEurope. The Company confirms that there is no additional information which is requiredto be disclosed under Rule 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules of the UK ListingAuthority. Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, said: "I would like to thank Brucefor his immense contribution to the Group and look forward to continuing to workwith him in the future. I would also like to welcome Mike to the Board of IPGroup. Mike's extensive experience both in equity capital markets and in privatecompany fundings will be invaluable to the Group. I am also delighted thatAlison has agreed to take on an increased role and that Rob has joinedTechtran." Mike Townend, IP Group's Director of Capital Markets, said: "I am delighted tohave the opportunity to apply my banking experience to the creation anddevelopment of some of the UK's most innovative new scientific companies. I'malso excited to be joining the management team of a ground-breaking business,which has quickly established itself as the UK's leading IP commercialisationcompany, as it moves to the next stage of its development." For further information, please contact: IP Group plc 020 7489 5200Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive OfficerLiz Vaughan-Adams (communications) 020 7489 5206/07979853802 BuchananTim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson, Mark Court 020 7466 5000 Notes for Editors About IP Group IP Group Plc is an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company thatspecialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Grouplisted on AiM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. Ithas made two acquisitions to date - Techtran, a company set up to commercialiseuniversity intellectual property under a long term contract with the Universityof Leeds, in 2005 and Top Technology Ventures, an investment adviser to earlystage technology venture capital funds, in 2004. The group has formed long-term partnerships with ten universities - theUniversity of Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, theUniversity of Leeds, the University of Bristol, the University of Surrey, theUniversity of Southampton, Queen Mary (University of London), the University ofBath and the University of Glasgow. As at 30 June 2006, 44 spin-out companies had been created among the group'suniversity partners. Of those, eight have listed on the AiM market of the LondonStock Exchange, one on PLUS Markets and there have been two trade sales. For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com. ENDS This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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